Binay tops latest SWS survey; Poe, Roxas, Duterte in statistical tie

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 15 January) – Vice President Jejomar Binay topped the race for the Presidency at 31% with Senator Grace Poe, former Local Governments Secretary and administration candidate Manuel Roxas, and Davao City mayor Rodrigo Duterte in a statistical tie, according to the January 8 to 10 pre-election survey of BusinessWorld-Social Weather Stations (SWS).

Compared with the results of the SWS survey on December 12-14 where Binay and Poe tied for the top spot and Roxas and Duterte were in a statistical tie for second place, the recent survey showed Binay gaining more in terms of voter preference, from 26% in December to 31% in January; Poe’s ratings went down from 26% in December to 24% in January; Roxas down from 22 in December to 21 in January and Santiago from 4% to 3% while Duterte was steady at 20%.

The SWS has conducted seven surveys on voter preference since the last quarter of 2014.

In the Presidential race, Binay and Poe topped twice and tied for the first place twice; Duterte topped once.

Binay topped at 37% in the November 27-December 1, 2014 survey and 31% in the January 2016 survey. He tied for the top post with Poe twice: in the March 20-23, 2015 survey where he and Poe got 36% and in the December 12-14, 2015 survey, at 26%.

Poe also topped at 42% in the June 5-28, 2015 survey and 26% in the Sept. 2-5, 2015 survey, aside from the tie for first place with Binay in March and December 2015.

Duterte topped once, at 38% in the November 26-28, 2015 SWS survey.

In a statement Peter Laviňa, head of the Media Group of Duterte, said he is “happy that the recent SWS survey rating of Mayor Rodrigo Duterte remains at 20% in a statistical tie at 2nd place.”

“This is a snapshot of people’s perception at the time it was taken. It shows that Duterte continues to have a strong following. We still need to look into the details of the numbers that came out. These should provide us insights on how we would improve on the next stages of the campaign. This is a pre-election campaign survey and we expect to increase our support base as we progress into the campaign proper. We thank all our supporters for keeping faith in Mayor Duterte and his quest for genuine change in our country,” Laviňa said.

According to the press statement of SWS, the January 2016 Pre-Election Survey was conducted from January 8-10, 2016 using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 validated voters, 300 each in Metro Manila, Balance of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao (sampling error margins of plus or minus 3% for national percentages, and plus or minus 6% each for Metro Manila, Balance of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao).

The survey results published online in BusinessWorld and SWS, did not provide details on who topped in Metro Manila, Balance of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. (MindaNews)